In our deepest moments of struggle, frustration, fear, and confusion, we are being called upon to reach in and touch our hearts. Then, we will know what to do, what to say, how to be. What is right is always in our deepest heart of hearts. It is from the deepest part of our hearts that we are capable of reaching out and touching another human being. It is, after all, one heart touching another heart.

- Roberta Sage Hamilton

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.

- M. Scott Peck

If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm.

- Warren Wendel Wiersbe

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

- Michael Jordan

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

- Agnes Repplier

Life is hard right up until the moment it isn't.

- Sue Morter

Intellect does not attain its full force unless it attacks power.

- Madame de Stael

That "change makes us uncomfortable" is now one of the most widely promoted, widely accepted, and underconsidered half-truths around.... [I]t is not change by itself that makes us uncomfortable; it is not even change that involves taking on something very difficult. Rather, it is change that leaves us feeling defenseless before the dangers we "know" to be present that causes us anxiety. (from Immunity to Change)

- Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

Imperfection is not our personal problem, it is a natural part of existing,

- Tara Brach

And when that person moves away, someone else arises to take his or her place.

- Parker J. Palmer

I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.

- Maya Angelou

Reality is the leading cause of stress for those who are in touch with it.

- Lily Tomlin

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

- Maya Angelou

How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.

- Niels Bohr

I have spent many years of my life in opposition and I rather like the role.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

We are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe, and the threat is outrunning our response.

- Sam Nunn



You will face many defeats in your life, but never let yourself be defeated.

- Maya Angelou



One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.

- Sophocles



A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.

- Alistair Cooke



Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

- Publilus Syrus



When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?"

- Sydney J. Harris



What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.

- Oscar Wilde



Into each life some rain must fall.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution.

- Werner von Braun



It is more difficult to stay on top than to get there.

- Mia Hamm



Difficulty need not foreshadow despair or defeat. Rather, achievement can be all the more satisfying because of obstacles surmounted.

- William Hastie



A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill



I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.

- Hafiz of Persia



Obstacles are those things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.

- Hannah More



Sustainability isn't about the quick fix or the cheap solution. Generally it means making a commitment and trying, as best we can, to honor it. In any worthwhile enterprise, from protecting the environment to preserving a relationship, we are going to encounter difficulties. The good life is not a problem-free life. In point of fact, the process of overcoming adversity often produces some of the most rewarding experiences we will ever have. Human beings need to be challenged to 'test their mettle,' as it were. Throwing in the towel at the first sign of trouble or small inkling of distress may be the easy thing to do, but it doesn't help our self-concept. Most of life's troubles can be overcome if we are willing to work through them with patience.

- Michael A. Schuler



Omnia praeclara tam difficilia quam rara sunt. All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

- Baruch Spinoza



The style of life is a unity because it has grown out of the difficulties of early life and out of the striving for a goal.

- Alfred Adler



Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon



As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

- Vincent van Gogh



Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson



I can resist everything except temptation.

- Oscar Wilde



Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each other's faults and failures.

- Mother Teresa



All men have a sweetness in their life. That is what helps them go on. It is towards that they turn when they feel too worn out.

- Albert Camus



Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.

- Rene Descartes



All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.

- Scott Alexander



Trusting our intuition often saves us from disaster.

- Anne Wilson Schaef



What we call "Progress" is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.

- Havelock Ellis



All rising to great place is by a winding stair.

- Francis Bacon



Affliction is more apt to suffocate the imagination than to stimulate it.

- Denise Levertov



The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes.

- Madame de Stael